


Divided Instincts

by Thisisentertaining



Series: Always trust Sokka's instincts [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canyons, Claustrophobia, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, The Great Divide, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, that episode, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26709787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thisisentertaining/pseuds/Thisisentertaining
Summary: Part of the Instinctual Verse - Please read that first.The last thing Zuko wants after years of being stuck in that cave is to see any more rocks. Unfortunately, he hadn't had luck since the day he's been born so here they were, staring at world's largest canyon.Oh well, at least they're flying over it and he won't actually be surrounded by rock walls, right?...right?
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Always trust Sokka's instincts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883224
Comments: 42
Kudos: 940





	Divided Instincts

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry to everyone who is eagerly awaiting Iroh, I did warn you that I would be posting out of order. I randomly got inspiration for The Great Divide episode, and since I may be the only fanfiction author to say that (Even the creators dunked on this ep- looking at you Ember Island players) I wanted to get this chapter out there. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> TW: Zuko experiences claustrophobia and a panic attack due to bad memories. All second person, from Sokkas point of view.

Zuko had never really thought about what it would be like to travel with the Avatar, a near-mythological being known to wield immense power and to be the caretaker of balance. Even the worst bout of cave-boredom had never come close to presenting that concept to his mind. However, if he had ever thought about it, he wouldn’t have pictured… _this._

He warily stood, staying several feet apart from the group of three as they… sight saw? As they stared at some kind of cavern that was apparently impressive because it was… big? Zuko didn’t know. Maybe it would have impressed him, at some point. With a monument this large, there were probably legends and plays about it that would have once wholly captured his mind, but he'd had his fill of staring at rock walls.

He didn’t dare mention it, though, allowing the others their fill of the view that the ‘Great Divide’ offered. In fact, he didn’t say anything. Katara and Sokka had been fighting the whole night yesterday, and even if the words had been about the tent and firewood, he knew they were actually arguing about him. Katara’s ‘how could you even think about sleeping in the same tent as… the tarp. The tarp shouldn’t be in the tent, Sokka.’ Hadn’t exactly been subtle. Sokka’s reply of ‘Because I know this tarp Katara, I trust it. You just have to trust me.’ Had been less so.

Zuko had used the argument to sullenly start a fire with the kindling that Katara had gathered. Even after days relishing in the sun, his chi was weak and he couldn’t make flames, but he _knew_ fire well enough to get a decent one started from the twigs that the waterbender had found. (Okay, so he’d mostly avoided it because he knew that the instant he got near, _he_ would start yelling, and well, he didn’t want to be frozen to a tree. So he stepped back and bit his tongue. For now. He knew himself well enough to know he wasn't good at holding back for long, if he was then he wouldn't be here.)

Sokka had showed up with more firewood a few moments later, so maybe they _had_ actually been fighting about the chores. But then he’d made sure to sit next to Zuko at dinner so maybe not. Zuko did _not_ get these kids.

Regardless, the score still stood with Sokka, and Aang for some reason, seeming to trust him, while Katara glared if he so much as sneezed, so he wasn’t going to complain that Aaang took them a day out of their way just to look at rocks.

Luckily, Sokka, who was trusted by all members of the group, was similarly unimpressed. “Ok. I’ve seen enough.”

“How can you not be fascinated, Sokka!” Katara asked, askance. “This is the largest canyon in the entire world!”

“Even Zuko thinks it’s neat!” Aang cut in, and Zuko coughed awkwardly.

“Right, uh, pretty… rocks.”

Aang grinned at him as though he’d shown as much enthusiasm as Katara had, but the girl just glared. Sokka easily diverted all attention back to him, as he was quickly growing skilled at. “Well, I’m sure we’ll be able to see it very clearly from the air while we fly away.” He responded as he wrestled with Appa’s reigns.

Suddenly, a man came running out of nowhere, yelling about how he had been there first and called dibs on the cavern guide for him and his tribe. Sokka had tried to talk the man down as a villiage-worth of people made their way to the cliff. Of course, the tribe at the man's heels wasn’t _his_ tribe, but was apparently some sort of blood feud tribe.

Zuko was growing more and more worried that they would actually have to walk the cavern.

That worry only increased when the first guy’s tribe showed up just in time to catch the guide.

It increased more when Katara suggested Aang try out his peacemaking skills to solve the dispute between two parties who seemed to hate each other for, what appeared to be, extremely stupid reasons.

When Katara stepped forward to make everyone pay attention to Aang’s ruling, he had pretty much completely given up on the idea of peaceable riding over on their convenient flying bison. Because that’s just how his life was.

There was a moment of minor chaos as the two people groups tried to determine who exactly would get to ride instead of walking, and Zuko took a moment to observe the two groups. The Gan Jin were a stately seeming people, just as polished and well groomed as the Zhang insults implied. Though Zuko wasn't sure why that was supposed to be an insult. Likewise, the Zhang were much… rougher. Their clothes were leather and fur, handmade. They were likely a hunting village while the Gan Jin probably worked in trade. Still, the Zhang weren’t _quite_ as slovenly as the other group implied. Their gear seemed to be well cared for, especially their weapons.

They had _awesome_ weapons. Including, were those…

He walked up to a man whose pack was laden by dozens of different swords, daggers, and projectile weapons. A smith, perhaps, bringing what he could of his livelihood on his journey. His livelihood apparently included the dual dao. The man smiled, the open and expressive smile of a Zhang rather than the sharp smirk of a merchant.

“Are you looking to lighten my load for the journey?”

Zuko grimaced, reality catching up to the overwhelming wave of _want_ he’d felt the instant he saw the blades. “I wish.” He replied honestly. “I don’t exactly have any… thing. I don’t have anything.” He finished, voice hollow and despondent as he realized he had literally nothing but the clothes on his back and the half-chain still held fast around his wrist.

The man frowned, but the woman next to him leaned forward. Ah, _there_ was the merchant’s smirk. “How about you do a little… community service for it instead?”

* * *

Sokka was not reassured that Aang also knew that he had no clue what he was doing. Meddling with the lives of two whole feuding villages could cause more problems than it would solve, especially since it seemed they didn’t even want to _pretend_ to play nice.

Speaking of people not wanting to play nice, Katara was still talking with Aang, but where was Zuko?

The water tribe teen spotted him right away. The not-quite-a-firebender was walking between the two groups of people, face etched in particularly intense scowl. Sokka was started to categorize a mental scale for Zuko-scowls. His default was around a 3, this was... maybe a 7? 9 was reserved for whenever he was in the same room with Jet. Sokka feared that if he ever hit 10, the firebender would just... explode or something. 

He was still pondering what, exactly, would be needed to tip the boy into a 10 when Zuko's leg's suddenly flew out from under him, sending the teen sprawling into a huge puddle of mud. He flailed heavily and awkwardly as he fell, sending clumps of mud flying through the air. Sokka was abruptly reminded that it had been less than a week since Zuko had gotten out of the cave. His hair was fuzzily starting to grow back from where they had shaved it, but who knew how the imprisonment affected his muscles.

Sokka ran towards where Zuko was unsteadily rising to his feet, ignoring the Gan Jin who were yelling in outrage at the mud stains now littering their pure white clothes. “Hey man, are you okay?”

“Huh?” The older teen asked, seeming shockingly shocked by the question. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” He walked back towards the Zhang, all of whom were laughing uproariously and pointing at the muddied Gan Jin. He made a beeline directly up to a man with a backpack- holy moose-cow, that was a _lot_ of weapons. The man, and the woman beside him, were laughing even harder than the rest. Without a word passing between them, the woman handed Zuko a gorgeous curved sword.

The teen was still at scowl level 8, but as soon as he had the sword in hand the sour expression fell, replaced by a small smile. 

Sokka stopped, hard. His mind was slowly computing what had just happened. The water tribe boy could almost see math floating in front of his eyes. Zuko, who could walk through a forest in fall silently, had just had a loud and showy fall that had covered the Gan Jin in a ton of mud. Then, he had received swords from the Zhang.

“Wait, was that a fake fall?”

“Of course it was.” Zuko snapped as he fastened the holster over his shoulder. “Do you really think I would trip over a stupid patch of dirt?”

Sokka, who had slipped on many patches of mud and ice, was quick to reply. “It could happen, I-“ Suddenly, he had an epiphany. The epiphany was that free weapons in exchange for pranks was pretty much the _best bartering system ever_.

He wanted to volunteer, but before he could, Mr.Canyon-Guide-Bender-Dude made the announcement that no food was allowed in the cavern. Now, in Sokka’s life, few things were more important than weapons and pranks. Food was one of those things.

By the time he was finishing the last of the seal jerky he’d smuggled from home, the first few travelers were starting to head down the path. Aang and Katara walked through first, hanging close to the guide, but Zuko was lingering back. “You okay, man?”

Zuko nodded ‘yes’ in a sharp, jerky way that actually meant ‘no’. Sokka frowned, confused at first but it didn’t take long to equate the gorgeous stone walls to the constricting gave, to see how Zuko was fiddling with the metal still locked around his right wrist. Sokka inhaled sharply and quickly tried to divert attention away from the gently sloping stone path.

“So, uh, new sword. That’s neat!”

Zuko pulled them out, initially holding it as a two-handed blade before separating his arms with a smooth move, revealing twin weapons. “They’re dual dao. My sword fighting master told me that the way of the sword belonged to all nations. These are almost identical to the ones… to ones you can find in the fire nation. Grips a little different, but I’ve also grown a lot since I last used them, so it could just be that.”

Sokka gaped. “Wait, that’s two swords? That’s awesome! That’s why you were using the two rods in the cave? Dude we should totally spar!”

“No.” Zuko said immediately, and Sokka had the sudden, intense desire to slam his head against a rock. Repeatedly. Hey, your friend is having an adverse reaction to trauma? Why don’t you directly mention that trauma and ask him to do recreate a major part of it. That was a good plan, right?

Why did they let him be the plan guy? Why couldn’t he just be the-

“Fighting with you can barely be called ‘sparring’.” The firebender continued, heedless of Sokka’s internal struggle. “I can _teach_ you to fight if you want, but I will not be subjected to your flailing.”

“Hey, I got a few good hits in last time.”

Zuko snorted. “A. Few. Hits. You didn’t win a single bout and we did over a dozen.”

“Rude. That’s just because you couldn’t convince me to use my boomerang. If you could see my skills with that, you would be grateful I spared your sorry butt.”

Zuko snorted again, dismissively. Which, double rude. See if Sokka felt bad about bringing up his trauma next time.

Ok, he would definitely still feel bad about it, but still. The firebender was about to eat his words.

“I’ll show you!” He scanned the chasm, eyes quickly darting around until he found a cluster of closely-packed mini-plateaus. “Yeah, there!” He grabbed Zuko’s shoulder and pointed at the cluster.

“I see… rocks.” The firebender-without-fire said, sounding unimpressed.

“Exactly.” Sokka pulled Boomerang out of its sheath and leveled it at the rocks, pointing. Some of the trailing Zhang paused as well, watching with interest. “I’m going to throw it between those two plateaus, then it’s going to weave around that on and that one, go through that gap there, and come back to my hand.”

“Wha- Sokka don’t be an idiot. You lose that thing here, and you’re never getting it back.”

The Water Tribe teen rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to miss. Watch.” He squinted. “And duck.”

“Sokka, no-“

Sokka yes.

The nonbender watched with a smug smirk as his boomerang left his hand in a familiar swing, the weight and shape as comfortable for him as his own hand. A broad grin split his face as he watched the weapon follow the exact path he’d predicted. Zuko ducked the instant before the weapon would make contact and Sokka caught it smoothly, smirk never faltering.

Zuko watched him consideringly for a moment. Then, “I’m glad I couldn’t convince you to use your boomerang in the cave.”

Sokka burst out a laugh at that. From the way that Zuko jumped in surprise at the sound, it was obvious that it was one of Zuko’s-not-really-jokes-just-earnest-statements-that-are-really-funny jokes that were quickly becoming the _best_ jokes (usually much better than his actual joke attempts). Sokka was pretty sure Aang agreed, because he always laughed even _harder_ when he realized that Zuko hadn’t been trying.

The elder teen gave a hint of a not-quite-smile and asked, “How can you be so good with that and so bad with your club?”

“I’m not _that_ bad.” Sokka said with a frown.

Zuko snorted. “I’m pretty sure I could disarm you with literally nothing. In fact I did. Remember that kick the very first time you came at me?”

Sokka groaned, he swore he could still hear the sound of his club clattering onto the cave floor. Zuko shifted guiltily. “You aren’t… bad. You’re smart, you have a lot of potential.”

“Great, now can you say that like you _aren’t_ being actively tortured?”

“I mean it!” Zuko said, sounding affronted. Sokka personally thought that _he_ was the one that should be affronted in this exchange, but… “If you could fight as well as you throw that thing, you could actually be a challenge.” He said it as though he was defending _himself_ instead of Sokka somehow.

Sokka honestly wasn’t sure if he should feel insulted or complimented at this point, but Zuko was no longer panicking, which was a good thing. So he did what he did best and just… talked. He talked about how his father had left when he was younger than Aang and the boomerang was the only thing he could practice by himself. He talked about how his training had been more about using his weapons to hunt and provide for the tribe than melee with other people. He talked about how he’d barely been trained but had tried his hardest to turn the children of his tribe into warriors. He discussed weapon making and sparring dummies and endless requests for potty breaks.

Zuko, in turn, offered stories of his own. He talked about calligraphy and rock gardening, and a father who disapproved of non-bending weapons but a love and skill that made it impossible to put down the blades. He spoke of a master who was pushed him, but was patient and kind. The near Zhang offered stories of their own, and in no time Zuko was as relaxed as he ever got (which was still about 5 times more tense than Sokka at his most stressed, but still).

Then, everything changed when some loose rocks attacked.

The earthbender easily deflected them with some weak joke about sacrifices for the spirits, but the damage was done and Zuko was back to looking like a single wrong word would made him explode. Sokka sighed and lowered his voice. “Sorry man, we didn’t think about… we didn’t think. I should have realized…”

“No. We- these people needed help. Those sick and elderly might not have made it without Appa, and they might have wasted the day fighting if Aang hadn’t… These refugees lost everything and they needed... someone. Us. They needed us. It’s good that we helped. To ignore people in need would be dishonorable, it wouldn’t be right.” He said the words firmly, as though that could make it more convincing when his hand hadn’t left his sword hilt, his eyes were constantly darting around to all of the cavern walls, and his breathing was irregular.

Sokka wished for a moment that Katara had gotten used to the concept of a trustworthy firebender, or that Aang wasn’t spending all of his time chatting with the earthbender guide. Emotional support was not Sokka’s area of expertise. He was the plan guy, not the feelings guy. Still, he was the only one there, so he tried. “Just because these guys need help and we want to help them… doesn’t mean we can’t help you, too. We’re you’re _friends_ Zuko. If you had told us… we would have figured something out.”

Zuko took in a deep, shuddery breath that he let out through clenched teeth. “I can handle it.” He said sharply, then stalked forward to catch up to the others in the front of the line. He then proceeded to ignore any further attempts to talk about it, barely doing more than looking in front of his feet as they made their way down deeper and deeper into the rocks.

He said nothing as the guide had them stop at the floor of the canyon so that he could break up the bridge they had used to climb down, though he grew only tenser as he watched his only sure exit be destroyed. Amazingly, he only _lost_ the tension when some kind of Nope!Monster came out of the dust cloud that the bending had kicked up and grasped the earthbender in it’s monstrous maw.

Sokka and Zuko had moved as one, Zuko darting forward while Sokka threw his boomerang. The boomerang nailed the monster in the face, enraging it and sending it rampaging toward’s Sokka. Unfortunately for the monster, that took it right past Zuko, who swept out with his swords to lob several feet off of one of the beast’s spindly legs. The beast turned it’s attention to Zuko then, who met it’s evil red gaze with crossed blades and a burning golden glare.

Katara attacked with a water whip to turn the beast’s attention away, but it did nothing but make it angrier. Even Zuko’s darting attack to the monster’s other side seemed to barely effect it. Only when Aang created an _actual literal sideways_ tornado did the monster scurry away, seeming almost entirely unharmed. Sokka went to retrieve his boomerang, only truly relaxing when the familiar weapon was in hand.

Zuko was still watching the spot where the creature had disappeared, but both of the teen’s froze when they heard Aang’s chilling words. “We’re trapped in this canyon.”

Zuko dropped his swords, the metal clanging emptily against the dusty stone ground of the canyon. Predictably, the two tribes almost immediately started to argue as Katara tended to the wounds of the guide, but Sokka was watching Zuko carefully. The teen was clenching and unclenching his fists, standing protectively over his swords as his chest visibly heaved and he shook his head. Zuko pulled at the chain on his wrist, each gasping breath coming out like a growl.

Sokka took a hesitant step forward, “Hey, it’s gonna-“

“Don’t touch me.” Zuko growled, standing his ground as his golden eye glared at the Water Tribe teen.

“Zuko, you know I’m-“

“I’m serious, Sokka. I- I don’t- _Don’t_ test me.

In that moment, Sokka realized that there was no anger in that glare, only a deepset fear. Sokka considered the situation carefully and stepped back. He forced himself to _think,_ not react. If there was anything that Sokka knew about Zuko, it was that he didn’t give up. He was a fighter, first and foremost. Here, threatened and triggered and trapped, his more feral instincts would be rising. The only problem was, there was nothing for him to fight, no enemy. If Sokka made _himself_ the threat, he wouldn’t like the result.

“Okay, Zuko, I’m stepping back okay. You need to breathe. Feel the sun. That’s a thing right? You firebenders like the sun a lot. So just… feel it. You aren’t in the cave, Jet isn’t here. You have options.” 

By this point, Katara had noticed them, and was looking at Zuko with more worry than fear for the first time since the firebender first appeared. Zuko had whirled to face the sun, and his breaths were evening somewhat, so Sokka kept going.

“You can always climb out of the cave or Aang can fly to find Appa, We’re okay.”

As if in response to his words, Aang chose that moment to send a rush of fierce air through the cavern, easily flying to the top of a plateau as he commanded the warring groups to separate. He made it seem as easy as blinking, and Sokka thought it was that more than anything that had Zuko relaxing enough to grab and sheath his weapons. Zuko had a way out. He wasn’t trapped like _that_.

Not again.

He walked beside Sokka and Katara as they met Aang at the base of the plateau, but Sokka could see the tension in his steps. He was calmer, but the fear and anger was barely kept at bay. Aang commanded the Water Tribe teens to split among the groups, but when he came to Zuko he paused. Luckily, the Fire Nation teen was quick to cut in.

“I’m staying with you. Even from up there you won’t be able to keep an eye on everyone at once.”

Aang slumped, as though relieved. “Oh good, I thought I would have to do that all alone. That would have been so _boring_.”

Sokka rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help a smile as Zuko began climbing the plateau, stubbornly refusing Aang’s help. At least _he_ got the cool people. Katara was stuck with the Gan Jin.

* * *

Zuko didn’t feel like he was actually breathing until after he had clawed his way, by himself, to the top of the plateau that bisected the canyon. He made it out on his own merit. He did it. He wasn’t trapped again, wouldn’t _let_ himself be trapped again.

Aang, who had made the same trip in less than 5 seconds, clapped excitedly as the firebender pulled himself to his feet. “That was so cool! I don’t think I could have done that without my airbending.”

“Uh, thanks.” The teen replied, still uncertain in light of the other boy’s… kindness.

The boy’s expression dropped a moment later and somehow that was worse. “I don’t know what to do about this. I’m the Avatar, I’m supposed to bring balance, end conflicts. How am I supposed to save the world if I can’t even get two tribes to get along?” The Avatar flopped onto the floor with a groan. “Any ideas?”

Zuko hesitated, then said honestly. “Aang… if I was any good at conflict resolution, I wouldn’t have spent 3 years locked in a cave.” Wouldn't have been banished in the first place. 

“…okay, that’s fair.” The boy sighed and propped his chin on his hand as he watched the two tribes set up vastly different camps.

Zuko hesitated and moved to sit cross legged beside the slumped airbender. “That doesn’t mean we can’t… try though. You know… brainstorm.”

“That’s a great idea! Okay, how do we start.”

“Okay, uh, when you’re in an argument with someone, what usually makes you stop fighting?”

The airbender frowned, looking contemplative for a moment before confessing, “I don’t know. The monks said that forgiveness is powerful, both when giving and receiving it. We were taught to solve problems without fighting. The last time I was really upset about something… it didn’t end well.”

His last words were nearly whispered, though a million different emotions hung on every syllable. Notes of shame, regret, and sadness. Zuko almost asked, but he took in the tenseness of the child’s shoulders, the way his face was closed off. This was a box that shouldn’t be prodded, not yet.

“Well, uh, I fought with my sister a lot, or she fought with me. We fought each other.”

“What made you stop?”

Zuko had to think. It felt like a lifetime ago. “Sometimes my father would come in and say that my sister was right and I should stop embarrassing myself. Or mom would come in and say it doesn’t matter who was right, we needed to get along because we’re siblings.”

“Well, I don’t think they’ll just get along because I said so, but maybe if Katara and Sokka can figure out what happened, I can tell them whose right!”

Zuko considered that for a moment and shook his head. “No, I was always mad after that, and we would usually get in the same exact fight a few days later.” Father was never happy to find him making a fool of himself over the exact same argument, but that never stopped him from making that mistake again and again. The pair were silent for a moment. Zuko tried to think about if anything had ever actually _worked_ to end a fight with his sister. Beyond Azula shooting him with blue fire. He didn’t think Aang would appreciate that suggestion.

After a moment, he sighed heavily. “The only time I can remember ending a fight not leaving mad was when Uncle caught us. We always were arguing about the stupidest things around him. Once, I remember being mad because she burned my favorite theatre scroll and He was all,” He affected an accent, “I see, you are fighting due to the heartbreak of a lost possession, but one must remember ‘the flower both loses and received pollen in due time, and it is this which allows it to grow’. And it would be like, no heartbreak, it was just a scroll. It’s not that big of a deal. He always caught us when it was something stupid like that.”

He missed Uncle.

Aang, however, was leaning forward excitedly. “That’s it!”

Zuko frowned, trying to remember saying anything useful. “What’s it?”

“I just have to figure out why they’re fighting, then make it seem like that was the _stupidest_ thing _ever._ Take whatever they’re mad about and make it so that it is so ridiculous, that they would be embarrassed to even _mention_ that they fought about it, forget about actually feuding anymore.”

Zuko blinked, slowly. “I- that might actually work.”

Aang straightened, eyes gleaming, and they shared grins in the dark.

A few moments later, Zuko frowned. “Wait, is that what Uncle had been doing the whole time?”

* * *

The next morning, Zuko acted as pseudo crutch for the guide at the front of the group, watching as Aang tried to ask Katara and Sokka about why the people were fighting. Based on the gesturing… it wasn’t going well. Zuko was kinda rethinking tabling the ‘just yell at them and tell them they’re wrong’ idea. Even if he _didn’t_ know what they were fighting about. Zuko may not be great at talking, but he was _really good_ at yelling.

Aang was getting better at it though, he acknowledged as the boy one more called for the feuding tribes to stop fighting. Maybe they didn’t have to get these people to get along, if they could just find a way _out of this stupid almost a cave._

Then, of course, the Avatar had to say the _stupidest thing ever._ “Harsh words won’t solve your problems, action will.”

Aang somehow seemed to forget that ‘fighting’ was an action. Zuko watched with detached interest as the two leaders clashed swords. He was starting to rethink the whole ‘it was right to help these people’ thing he’d said to Sokka way back when.

Was that really just yesterday? It felt like it was taking _forever_ to get out of this canyon.

Maybe he was just grumpy because he was hungry.

No, he was always this grumpy.

The fight was intense, well matched and ferocious, with the leader’s people shouting and cheering in the background. Both were skilled with their weapons and unwilling to give any ground. However, neither could withstand the might of the Avatar. With a single swing of his staff, Aang created a tidal wave of air that sent the two groups rocketing back and sending their supplies flying.

The growling of Zuko’s stomach met a growl of anger as food flew from the packs.

No, he was _definitely_ grumpy cause he was hungry, and these fools were about to feel his wrath.

“You had _food_?” He snarled. “We are _trapped_ in here, Aang and I are _starving_ , and you couldn’t go without a snack for _ONE DAY_ on pain of death.” He jabbed a finger at the guide. “This man’s wounds, the harm to his livelihood, the lives of _every single_ group of refugees that he can’t bring through because he can’t bend, those are all on your heads you pig-headed, selfish, miserable, greedy peasants.”

“You’re all _awful_!” Aang’s voice joined before he whimpered at the sight of a pie.

Zuko had just gotten started though, and was taking in a deep breath to continue when the crevice was suddenly filled with the echoing growls of the Canyon Crawlers. Zuko grabbed his dual dao, jumping into the fray as the monsters flooded their canyon. He slashed and sliced and stabbed. Every move he made was calculated, exacting, and purposeful.

It wasn’t enough.

It was never enough.

There were too many of the crawlers, they were too big. Their exoskeletons were too strong. Then, Aang turned the attacking creatures into some sort of odd mount to use to climb the cliff.

Because that was apparently a thing.

_Somehow._

Honestly, Zuko didn’t really care. He was out of the canyon, that was all that really mattered. He jumped off the beast immediately, lest it carry him back into the pit, and stood between Katara and Sokka. They seemed to be getting along better. So did the feuding tribes, which was good, because if anyone started fighting _again_ , he was bringing out his swords. He no longer cared about the consequences. He was done.

Suddenly, the two leaders had their swords at each others’ throats.

Zuko growled and went for his own blades. He was going to stop this feud, right here, right now. Sokka put a hand over his, shaking his head with startled eyes when suddenly Aang’s voice rang out. “Wait! I know those guys.”

He glanced back at Zuko and winked. The firebender squinted, uncertain at first, before remembering their plan on the plateau. Okay, he would let Aang try. If this didn’t work though… He didn't sheath his swords.

The teen listened as Aang wove a tale that turned the theft of a sacred relic to the story of a pair of children playing a ball game and struggled to keep from rolling his eyes. Mostly because they were buying it, hook line and sinker. Normally, Zuko would prefer an honorable fight to a deception of this level, but these people were quickly making him too angry to care, so he just did what he could to school his face to a blank expression. The tribesmen had questions of course, but Aang somehow answered with increasingly ridiculous excuses and they were _buying_ it.

How come no one ever believed his lies like that?

Somehow, no one caught on, and in what felt like moments the tribes (one tribe now maybe) were walking away together.

Sokka grinned at Aang. “That’s some luck you knew Ghin Wai and Wai Ghin.”

Zuko groaned loudly. “Don’t tell me _you_ fell for it too? Aang, I know we said to make it seem ridiculous, but really? A game of ‘redemption’? Eight year olds? The penalty box?”

Aang grinned at him cheekily and the Water Tribe teens gaped as they caught on.

“Wait,” Sokka said. “Are you saying that you made that all up?”

“That is so wrong.” Katara grinned wickedly, eyes bright.

Zuko rolled his eyes. “Of course he made it up. You guys don’t really think he’s 112 years old do you?”

Silence filled the clearing, then Aang said tentatively. “Well, actually…”

Zuko groaned. “You know what, no. I’m too hungry to deal with this.”

“Oh, me too. Did anyone see where that custard pie went?”


End file.
